How To Deal With Your Car’s Dents And Scratches

A motorized vehicle, which may have needed services like Ceramic paint Protection Sydney, is a necessity in the modern world, our busy schedules and growing list of places to be (that are always just a bit too far away!) make having a car or a bike something we cannot do without. But as bikes are not as nearly as comfortable as cars the latter has become the most desirable form of transport in developed countries. But with such a comfortable form of transport, there come some drawbacks.

Both the car’s exterior and interior are nicely designed and finely made, but will inevitably come in contact with the harsh reality of the real world – bad weather, clumsy drivers, angry passersby, etc. However well your car is guarded it will end up damaged here and there, and while some of those things are beyond an amateur’s skills to repair, some, like dents and scratches, are manageable. 

Regular Inspections 

The first thing that needs to be taken care of is inspecting the car itself for damage. For instance, if you notice cracks or dents on your vehicle’s windshield, you should get immediate auto glass repair service from a reputable windshield repair shop. If your car’s windshield is damaged in an accident or due to normal deterioration, you need to file vehicle glass insurance claims and repair or replace it quickly to ensure safety while driving. A chip or scratch on the driver’s side of the windshield could result in impaired vision while you are driving. If the entire windshield is cracked, even the smallest of bumps while driving could cause it to shatter.

Taking it once per year to the mechanic is usually not enough, as damage done during the year will only increase over time, especially if you have rust spots or torn fabric inside the car. Though there isn’t any official checklist of what needs to be covered, nor how often, doing it once every two months should be considered frequent enough. 

A certain order of inspection, by importance, would be:

  • Engine (though you have the engine check light for that)
  • Tires and wheels (tire pressure at least once a month!)
  • Car exterior (look for scratches, rust spots, and dents)
  • Car interior (worn-out fabric coverings, faulty windshield buttons, etc)

Though some of these can be minor issues and don’t require immediate repair –  but letting them sit for too long might cause more trouble in the long run, plus it makes your car look bad.

Dealing with Hail Damage

One of the most frequent causes of dents on cars is hail. From very small, to the size of golf balls, these irregular ice balls are formed when drops of water freeze together in the colder upper parts of thunderstorms. Once they get too heavy they start falling and can cause damage to cars, crops, roofs and even hurt people. 

As hail isn’t sharp it will usually only leave dents and not scratches, so you probably won’t have to repaint anything but only take the dents out. Checking out www.pdrcanada.ca we can see that some of these techniques are already in use and that most hail damage doesn’t require taking off the entire roof of your car to re-do it. Keep in mind that dents compromise the structural integrity of the car’s surface, something that is very important with how cars are built nowadays, that is – how they are supposed to behave in a car crash.  

Covering Up Scratches

If dents are similar to bruises, scratches can be compared to cuts. But while the body will eventually heal by itself and the cut will probably disappear completely, car scratches will not go away on their own. As the car’s exterior is made out of iron it has to be painted to protect it from rust.

Corrosion is the result of a chemical reaction between iron, oxygen, and water, where the resulting oxides will be flaky and likely to fall off, exposing even more underlying surface to continue rusting until it is all gone. 

Keeping cars indoors, such as in a closed garage, can help slow down the corrosion of an exposed area, but it will have to be taken to a mechanic at one point. You can do some minor repairs yourself by wet-sanding the damaged area to open up a larger surface and even out the texture. After that, you should apply a coat of protective paint, ideally from a spray can. The color might be a bit off, but it is still better than rust spots. 

The Inside Matters Too

The inside of a car should at least be thoroughly cleaned every once in a while. Very often, if we are also carrying tools or maybe small animals with us, they might damage the fabric lining on car doors or the fabric covering of seats. The easiest way to repair this is by gluing back any parts that become separated. 

A cut is made on the line of the damaged fabric, after which another piece of similarly-colored fabric is placed under the cut to act as support, and then the upper fabric is glued over. This way you stop the fabric from ripping more and more during use. 

The hobbyist and crafter in all of us might not be used to repairing cars but considering how easy and small some of these repairs are, it shouldn’t be a problem for most people to do them. And even if you don’t have the patience or tools for it – any mechanic would be more than happy to have a new customer and work on something for the beauty of it.